Microsoft Corporation Company Profile (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Microsoft Corporation is a technology company. The Company develops, licenses, and supports a range of software products, services and devices. The Company's segments include Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud and More Personal Computing. The Company's products include operating systems; cross-device productivity applications; server applications; business solution applications; desktop and server management tools; software development tools; video games, and training and certification of computer system integrators and developers. It also designs, manufactures, and sells devices, including personal computers (PCs), tablets, gaming and entertainment consoles, phones, other intelligent devices, and related accessories, that integrate with its cloud-based offerings. It offers an array of services, including cloud-based solutions that provide customers with software, services, platforms, and content, and it provides solution support and consulting services.

What is Microsoft Corporation's stock symbol?

Microsoft Corporation trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol "MSFT."

How often does Microsoft Corporation pay dividends? What is the dividend yield for Microsoft Corporation?

Microsoft Corporation announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 16th will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share on Thursday, December 14th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 15th. This is an increase from Microsoft Corporation's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. View Microsoft Corporation's Dividend History.

How were Microsoft Corporation's earnings last quarter?

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced its earnings results on Thursday, July, 20th. The company reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $24.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $24.29 billion. Microsoft Corporation had a net margin of 23.57% and a return on equity of 36.81%. The firm's revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.69 EPS. View Microsoft Corporation's Earnings History.

2. According to Zacks Investment Research, "Microsoft reported strong fourth-quarter fiscal 2017 results. Both earnings and revenues increased on a year-over-year basis. The impressive results demonstrated that the company is benefiting from continuing enterprise strength, strong Office 365 and Windows 10 adoption and robust penetration of Azure. We also note that LinkedIn has improved the company's presence in the social media market, which improved top-line growth. Management expects expenses to increase in fiscal 2018 due to continuing investments. This will weigh on profitability in the near term. Nevertheless, we believe that the company's expanding product portfolio is a key catalyst in the long haul. However, intensifying competition in the cloud space and unfavorable foreign exchange are headwinds." (7/24/2017)

3. Pacific Crest analysts commented, "We are raising our FCF estimates slightly and raising our target to $78 from $70 as we roll forward to calendar 2018. Reiterate Overweight on MSFT. Microsoft cloud was surprisingly strong; growth accelerated to 52%. The commercial cloud annualized run-rate increased 52% y/y to $15.2 billion in the quarter, exceeding our estimate by nearly $1 billion. Azure grew 93% y/y, maintaining the robust growth seen last quarter despite a larger revenue base. Premium services, which more than 80% of Azure customers adopt, drove the top-line performance and a ~300 basis point uptick in the cloud margin to 51%. Surface shortfall should not distract from stellar cloud momentum. Ultimately, Microsoft’s next three to five years will mostly be driven by its success in commercial cloud, which now represents 16% of sales, up from 5% in early 2015. While management underestimated the impact of Surface end-of-life and competitive pricing discounting that resulted in a revenue miss, we think the strong and broad-based adoption of Office 365, Azure, Dynamics 365 and LinkedIn cloud assets should trump any near-term concerns on Surface. Overweight MSFT on multiple upside levers; raising target to $78. We believe MSFT remains one of the marquee cloud stocks to own based on multiple upside levers to the model, including: (1) commercial cloud momentum across Azure, Azure Stack, Office 365, and Dynamics 365, (2) new product cycles, (3) Win10 commercial adoption, and (4) improving free cash flow margin." (4/28/2017)

4. Jefferies Group LLC analysts commented, "Microsoft's modus operandi is intact as it exceeded estimates established by its lowered guidance, only to report results that were about in line with previous consensus numbers. Also true to form, its guidance for next quarter was lower than consensus expectations adjusting for LinkedIn. Regardless, the results were stable with 1% revenue growth, though operating cash flow grew 12% with several asterisks." (1/27/2017)

5. BGC Financial analysts commented, "Share of Microsoft are trading near a lifetime high of $64.10 reached on 12/22/16 as the company prepares to report its December quarter results post-market on Thursday January 26th. Investors are warming up to the growth in the more valuable assets embedded inside Microsoft including its Intelligent Cloud segment that has a revenue run rate exceeding $13 billion, its data center footprint that spans 38 geographic regions, and a focus on layering artificial intelligence across its products. That said, these more desirable elements are still buried in a company that is producing low-single digit revenue growth and is underperforming in its consumer segments in our opinion. The December quarter result is particularly sensitive to consumer demand given the historical pattern of PCs and game consoles being a desired holiday gift." (1/25/2017)

Are investors shorting Microsoft Corporation?

Microsoft Corporation saw a increase in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 54,523,682 shares, an increase of 17.0% from the August 31st total of 46,596,922 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 19,268,982 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.8 days. Currently, 0.7% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Who sold Microsoft Corporation stock? Who is selling Microsoft Corporation stock?

Microsoft Corporation's stock was sold by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including State Street Corp, Franklin Resources Inc., Bank of New York Mellon Corp, ValueAct Holdings L.P., Karp Capital Management Corp, TIAA CREF Investment Management LLC, Capital World Investors and American Century Companies Inc.. Company insiders that have sold Microsoft Corporation stock in the last year include Amy Hood, Christopher C Capossela, Frank H Brod, G Mason Morfit, Jean Philippe Courtois and William H Gates III. View Insider Buying and Selling for Microsoft Corporation.

MarketBeat's community ratings are surveys of what our community members think about Microsoft Corporation and other stocks. Vote "Outperform" if you believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 over the long term. Vote "Underperform" if you believe the stock will underperform the S&P 500 over the long term. You may vote once every thirty days.

MarketBeat calculates consensus ratings using the most recent rating from each brokerage that has rated a stock within the last twelve months. Since brokers often use different ratings systems, each rating is normalized to a standardized rating score of 1 (sell), 2 (hold), 3 (buy) or 4 (strong buy). Consensus ratings scores are calculated using the mean average of the number of normalized sell, hold, buy and strong buy ratings. Each stock's consensus rating is derived from its calculated consensus ratings score (0-1.5 = Sell, 1.5-2.5 = Hold, 2.5-3.5 = Buy, >3.5 = Strong Buy). MarketBeat's consensus price targets are a mean average of the most recent available price targets set by each analyst that has set a price target for the stock in the last twelve months.

MarketBeat will no longer include ratings and price target data in its consensus calculation if a broker drops coverage and MarketBeat has received a report that coverage was dropped. Ratings from certain research firms that issue ratings using purely quantitative methods (such as Zacks, Vetr and ValuEngine) are not included in consensus calculations. MarketBeat's consensus ratings and consensus price targets may differ from those calculated by other firms due to differences in methodology and available data.